Improvement in rotary diggers



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

No. 47,996'. W Patented May so, 1865.

Witnesses:

m42/w Inventor,

3 Sheets-Sheet' H. STANLEY.

Rotary Digger.

Patented May 3o, 1865.

W|tnesses= Inventor:

Zwm g /fw W9 3 SheetSV-Shet 3.

H. STANLEY.

Rotary Dggr.

Patented May 3VO, 1865.

Witnesses: fifa-92M- Inventor;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY STANLEY, OF TROY, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN ROTARY DIGG ERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 47,996, dated May 3.0, 1865.

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY STANLEY, of Troy,vin the county of Rensselaer and State of NewYork,have invented a new and Improved Digging-Machine; and I do hereby declare that'the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make. and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1, Sheet No.1, is a side view of my invention complete in a working position; Fig. 2, Sheet No. 2, a side view ot' the framing ot' the same, showing the position ofthe framing when the machine is not in a working position; Fig. 3, Sheet No. 3, a plan or top view of Fig. l, Figs.4, 5, 6, and 7, Sheet No. 2, de tached views of portions of the chain to which the teeth of the machine are attached.

Similar letters of' reference indicate like 5 parts.

constructed, operate with less friction, and

consequently require less draft, perform its work in a more thorough manner, and also be capable of being manipulated with greater facil'ity,so that the working parts will be under the complete controlof the driver.

A represents the machine in a working position,the front end of the side pieces, a a, beingr held in a suitably-elevated position by the guiding-pole B, attached to the front part of th'e frame A, as shown in Fig.1; and C is the drivers seat, which may be adjusted forward and backward and secured at any desired po'int'by means of set-screws.

D D and E E represent two pairs of rollers, over'ivhich endless chaiusFw'ork. One chain only Ais shown,asboth are precisely alike. The rollers D D, which are at the rear end of the machine and of the proper diameter to produce the desired upheaval of the earth as the chains pass around them, are placed on a shaft, a', which has fixed bearings. The rollers E E are placed loosely ou shaft b, the ends of which pass through oblong slots c in the side pieces, a, of the frame A, and have their bearings i'n the ends of screw-rods G, which pass through ears or lugs d at the lsides of the frame, and have nuts e on them. By turning these nuts the chains F, it will be seen, may be keptat any desired degree of tension 5 and in order to strengthen the shaft b and admit ofthe use of as light a shaft as possible, I employ a central bearing, H, which is connected with a screw-swivel, I. (See Fig. 3.) This bearing H, which may be termed a shaftsupporter, enables the shaft I) to resist the force applied to draw the machine, and also enables the said shaft to resist the tension of the chains F, and if it were not employed a much larger and heavier shaft, b, would be necessary, thereby causing increased friction and augmenting thedraftof the machine very materially.

The chains are composed of links fg, the linksf being the large or chief ones, and provided at each side with two hooks or claws, h h, over which the smaller links, g, are fitted, the latter being of H or double-T form. This will be fully understood by referring to Figs. 3, 4, 6, and 7. The linksfg may be very readily fitted together and taken apart.

The large links,f, are each provided with two teeth J J, which perform the digging. These teeth may be described as of chisel form, and they are made of conical form at their inner ends, as shown at t', Fig. 5, and are fitted in corresponding holes in the linksf, and have projections beyond their conical end e', which have screw-threads cut on them to receive nuts j, by which the teeth are drawn firmly into the links and securely connected to them. By giving the conical form to the fitting parts ofthe links and teeth the former may be very read ily and uniformly fitted to the size and taper required, because all of the holes may be bored l' with the same reamer and allof the teeth may be readily fitted to the same uniform-size and taper in the lathe,rendering them interchangeable and facilitating their removal for repairs, and by means of fianges or lips lc on the links and the teeth being flat on'the front side the l which tit over the sides ofthe rollers D E and ,shaft a there is also firmly keyed a toothed segment, O, into which the pinion 1 gears, having a ratchet, Q, at its inner end.

R is an upright lever, attached to the stud y'on which the pinion and ratchet revolve, and l has a pawl, S, attached to it, which engages with the ratchet Q of the pinion P. By mov- I ingthc lever R the pawl S actnates the ratchet Q and causes the pinion 'P to operate the toothed segment 0 and turn the cranks N N, by which the rear partot' the machine is ele- 'vated and the teeth J of the chains 'F raised up out of the ground.

T is a holding-paw] which engages with the ratchet Q.. This holding-pawl is of bent form, as shown cle-arly in Figs. l and 2, and its rear part, lnz., is within the path of the movement ot' the rear part of pawl S, so that when the lever Ris thrown forward sufficiently far for the center rear part of pawl S to come in contact with the upper end ot' the perpendicular arm m of the pawl T a small force is sufficient to overcome the friction produced bythe pressure ot the ratchet against the pawl T and give it a start. Then the lower rear point ot" pawl S takes hold of the pawl T nearer the center of its movement and carries the front end ot' it and of pawl S with it quickly out of reach of ratchet Q, and the rear part of the machine will at once drop and the teethj penef trate into the earth. llhe casual or accidental dropping of the rear part of the machine is avoided by means of a stop formed of a shoulder or projection, u, on an elastic bar, U, attached to trame A, said bar having such a relative position with the lever R that the shoulder a will prevent the lever being shoved stifciently far forward to cause the pawl S to actuate or come in contact with the holdingpawl T. W'hen this movement ofthe lever R is desired the bar U is pressed at one side to admit ot' lever R passing the shoulder n.

The rear part ot' the frame A of the machine is secured at any desired height, so that the that themachine may drop instantlywhen the ratchet Q, is freed from its pawls. (See Fig. 2,in which the position of a crank at one side of the machine is shown when the rear part of `the latter is fully elevated.)

The movement ot the cranks is limited to the required range by stops on the frame, witl which stops the arms of the toothed segment O come in contact.

The pawl V- is retained in contact with the toothed segment O or freed from it by means ot'an elastic har, W, provided with shoulders a* and attached to frame A.

The lever R is operated by the driverfrom his seat C by means of a handle, X, which is attached to segment-bar, Y, thelatter passing through a slot in the' upper end of the lever and secu red at any desired point by aset-screw, 19. By this arrangement the handle X may be moved or adjusted relatively with the seat C as may be required, and this movement or adjustment ofthe handle is necessary, for the seat C, as previously alluded to, is adjusted farther forward or backward on the frame A to suit the weight of thedriver, so that the machine may be kept in a balanced state and the necks of the team relieved from unnecessary weight and the whole weight of the machine and driver brought upon the pressure-rollers; and should additional weight be required to force the teeth into the ground when working, I prefer to add it to the wheels, as in such case it will not require to be raised when raising the teeth out of the ground.

By the arrangement ofthe chains F, rollers D E, and intermediate rollers, K, as shown, the digging mechanism is rendered very compact, the rear rollers, D D, answering the double purpose of pressure and working rollers-that is to say, they serve to force the teeth] into the ground; and by giving them (the rollers) a proper diameter they also serve, when themachine is at work, to earry'the teeth outofthe ground in such a manner as to leave the earth in the best possible condition.

By the employment or use of the lever R, with the pawls, ratchet, pinion, and toothed segment arranged as shown, the rear part of the machine may be'raised with the greatest facility, and also allowed to` drop at the will ot' theV driver, by a very simple manipulation of said lever and without any very great effort on the part of the driver. y

By constructing the chains F as shown and described thelinks may he connect-ed together with the greatest facility.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and'desire'to secure by Letters Patent, is- Y l. The combination of the H -formed links g with the tooth-linksf, provided with lugs h, all being construct-ed as specilied.

2. Having the ends ofthe teeth made ofeouical form when littingintocorrespoiuling-shaped sockets in the links, substantially as described.

3. The lips 7tto prevent the turning ofthe teeth, substantially as described.

4. The employment of one or more intermediate shaft-supporters, H, in combination with the chain-rollers, substantially as herein described.

5. The employment of the toothed segment O, in combination with the wheels L, substantially as described.

6. The combination of the lever by which the digging-teeth are raised and lowered with the drivers seat, substantially as described.

7. The pawls S T, in combination with the lever R and ratchet Q, substantially us described.

8. The employment of a locking; device, V, 0r its equivalent, in combination with the raisinp; mechanism, substantially as and for the purpose described.

9. .The employment of an adjustable drivers seat, in combination with one or more endless chains of digging-teeth, substantially as described.

10. The combination ofthe cranks N N with rear roller, substantially as described.

11. The employmentof the raising-lever in combination with the segment or its equivalent, substantially in the manner herein shown and described.

12. The adjustable handle ot the raisinglever, in combination with the raising-lever and' the adjustable drivers seat.

HENRY STANLEY.

Witnesses:

M. M. LiviNGsToN, C. L. ToPLiFF. 

